Detecting Stellar Coronal Mass Ejections via Coronal Dimming in the Extreme Ultraviolet
Stellar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) can strip planetary atmospheres, reducing the potential habitability of terrestrial planets. While flares have been observed for decades, stellar CMEs remain elusive. Extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) emissions are sensitive to both flares and CME-induced cor...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
|
| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ade4bc |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849425001355149312 |
|---|---|
| author | James Paul Mason Allison Youngblood Kevin France Astrid M. Veronig Meng Jin |
| author_facet | James Paul Mason Allison Youngblood Kevin France Astrid M. Veronig Meng Jin |
| author_sort | James Paul Mason |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Stellar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) can strip planetary atmospheres, reducing the potential habitability of terrestrial planets. While flares have been observed for decades, stellar CMEs remain elusive. Extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) emissions are sensitive to both flares and CME-induced coronal dimming. We assess the detectability of stellar CME-induced EUV dimming events by adapting a known “Sun-as-a-star” dimming technique—validated by the Solar Dynamics Observatory’s EUV Variability Experiment (EVE)—to stellar conditions. We adapt the solar data to reflect a range of stellar intensities, accounting for intrinsic brightness, distance, and interstellar medium (ISM) attenuation. We generate synthetic light curves for two different missions: the legacy EUV Explorer (EUVE) and the proposed ESCAPE mission. Our results indicate that dimming detections are well within reach. EUVE’s broadband imager was capable of detecting stellar CMEs—albeit with limited spectral (temperature) resolution—but that was not part of the observing plan. EUVE’s spectroscopic survey lacked sufficient sensitivity for CME detections. Optimizing modern instrument design for this task would make the observation fully feasible. In this work, we present a tool to explore the stellar-CME detection parameter space. Our tool shows that with an instrument with performance similar to ESCAPE, setting a 600 s integration period, and integrating the spectra into bands, any star with a X-ray flux ≥2.51 × 10 ^−12 erg s ^−1 cm ^−2 should have a ≥3 σ detection even for a modest few-percent dimming profile, regardless of ISM attenuation. Such measurements would be crucial for understanding the space weather environments of exoplanet host stars and, ultimately, for evaluating planetary habitability. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b1e8937b57374a28b00b8cff8a48ef0f |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-b1e8937b57374a28b00b8cff8a48ef0f2025-08-20T03:29:57ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572025-01-01988216710.3847/1538-4357/ade4bcDetecting Stellar Coronal Mass Ejections via Coronal Dimming in the Extreme UltravioletJames Paul Mason0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3783-5509Allison Youngblood1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1176-3391Kevin France2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1002-3674Astrid M. Veronig3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2073-002XMeng Jin4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9672-3873Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory , 11000 Johns Hopkins Rd, Laurel, MD 20723, USA ; james.mason@jhuapl.eduExoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics Laboratory , NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USALaboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado Boulder , Boulder, CO 80309, USAUniversity of Graz , Institute of Physics & Kanzelhöhe Observators for Solar and Environmental Research, Universitätsplatz 5, 8010 Graz, AustriaLockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Lab (LMSAL) , Palo Alto, CA 94304, USAStellar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) can strip planetary atmospheres, reducing the potential habitability of terrestrial planets. While flares have been observed for decades, stellar CMEs remain elusive. Extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) emissions are sensitive to both flares and CME-induced coronal dimming. We assess the detectability of stellar CME-induced EUV dimming events by adapting a known “Sun-as-a-star” dimming technique—validated by the Solar Dynamics Observatory’s EUV Variability Experiment (EVE)—to stellar conditions. We adapt the solar data to reflect a range of stellar intensities, accounting for intrinsic brightness, distance, and interstellar medium (ISM) attenuation. We generate synthetic light curves for two different missions: the legacy EUV Explorer (EUVE) and the proposed ESCAPE mission. Our results indicate that dimming detections are well within reach. EUVE’s broadband imager was capable of detecting stellar CMEs—albeit with limited spectral (temperature) resolution—but that was not part of the observing plan. EUVE’s spectroscopic survey lacked sufficient sensitivity for CME detections. Optimizing modern instrument design for this task would make the observation fully feasible. In this work, we present a tool to explore the stellar-CME detection parameter space. Our tool shows that with an instrument with performance similar to ESCAPE, setting a 600 s integration period, and integrating the spectra into bands, any star with a X-ray flux ≥2.51 × 10 ^−12 erg s ^−1 cm ^−2 should have a ≥3 σ detection even for a modest few-percent dimming profile, regardless of ISM attenuation. Such measurements would be crucial for understanding the space weather environments of exoplanet host stars and, ultimately, for evaluating planetary habitability.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ade4bcStellar coronal mass ejectionsAstronomy image processingExtreme ultraviolet astronomyAstronomical instrumentation |
| spellingShingle | James Paul Mason Allison Youngblood Kevin France Astrid M. Veronig Meng Jin Detecting Stellar Coronal Mass Ejections via Coronal Dimming in the Extreme Ultraviolet The Astrophysical Journal Stellar coronal mass ejections Astronomy image processing Extreme ultraviolet astronomy Astronomical instrumentation |
| title | Detecting Stellar Coronal Mass Ejections via Coronal Dimming in the Extreme Ultraviolet |
| title_full | Detecting Stellar Coronal Mass Ejections via Coronal Dimming in the Extreme Ultraviolet |
| title_fullStr | Detecting Stellar Coronal Mass Ejections via Coronal Dimming in the Extreme Ultraviolet |
| title_full_unstemmed | Detecting Stellar Coronal Mass Ejections via Coronal Dimming in the Extreme Ultraviolet |
| title_short | Detecting Stellar Coronal Mass Ejections via Coronal Dimming in the Extreme Ultraviolet |
| title_sort | detecting stellar coronal mass ejections via coronal dimming in the extreme ultraviolet |
| topic | Stellar coronal mass ejections Astronomy image processing Extreme ultraviolet astronomy Astronomical instrumentation |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ade4bc |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jamespaulmason detectingstellarcoronalmassejectionsviacoronaldimmingintheextremeultraviolet AT allisonyoungblood detectingstellarcoronalmassejectionsviacoronaldimmingintheextremeultraviolet AT kevinfrance detectingstellarcoronalmassejectionsviacoronaldimmingintheextremeultraviolet AT astridmveronig detectingstellarcoronalmassejectionsviacoronaldimmingintheextremeultraviolet AT mengjin detectingstellarcoronalmassejectionsviacoronaldimmingintheextremeultraviolet |